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Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education

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Western Regional Graduate Program (WRGP)

About WRGP

The Western Regional Graduate Program (WRGP) allows master’s, graduate certificate, and Ph.D. students who are residents of the WICHE member states to enroll in some 320 high-quality programs at 56 participating institutions outside of their home state and pay resident tuition. The WICHE states are Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawai‘i, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oregon, South Dakota, Utah, Washington, Wyoming, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.

WRGP is a tuition-reciprocity arrangement similar to the Western Undergraduate Exchange (WUE). Students can enroll directly in the program through WRGP; they are not dependent upon the approval of their home state to participate because the student’s home state does not provide funding for each individual student. WRGP represents a tremendous opportunity for Western states to share distinctive programs (and the faculty who teach them) and build their workforce in a variety of disciplines, particularly healthcare.

In fall 2013, more than 1,100 students enrolled through WRGP and saved an estimated $15.9 million dollars in tuition, and each student saved an average of $14,000.

For Graduate Students

To be considered for the WRGP resident tuition rate, apply directly to the department or graduate studies department of the institution where you want to enroll, and identify yourself as WICHE WRGP applicant. WGRP students must fulfill all the usual requirements of the department and institution concerned, and meet all admission deadlines. Contact information for each participating program is listed in our WRGP online directory.

For Graduate Programs Interested in Joining the WRGP Network

Institutions can nominate their graduate programs for participation in WRGP every fall. Programs that aren’t related to healthcare must be “distinctive,” meaning they must be offered at no more than four other institutions in the WICHE region (exclusive of California). WICHE is particularly interested adding graduate programs in healthcare (for fields not available through WICHE’s Professional Student Exchange Program) and on-the-rise sectors including microtechnology and nanotechnology; green building and building energy conservation; emerging media and communications; biotechnology and bioinformatics; computer and cyber security; alternative energy technology and sustainability; geospatial technology; market research, data mining, data science and analytics; homeland security and emergency and disaster management; user experience design and management; and, elder care specialists.

Nominations for new WRGP programs are now closed. Please check back in September 2015.

David A. Longanecker

David A. Longanecker is the president of the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education in Boulder, Colorado.

Previously he served for six years as the assistant secretary for postsecondary education at the U.S. Department of Education, developing and implementing national policy and programs that provided more than $40 billion annually in student aid and $1 billion to institutions. Prior to that he was the state higher education executive officer (SHEEO) in Colorado and Minnesota.

He was also the principal analyst for higher education for the Congressional Budget Office. Dr. Longanecker has served on numerous boards and commissions and has written extensively on a range of higher education issues.

The Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education is a regional organization created by the Western Regional Education Compact and adopted in the 1950s by Western states. WICHE was created to facilitate resource sharing among the higher education systems of the West. It implements a number of activities to accomplish its objectives.

WICHE began operations in 1953 in Eugene, OR, moving to its present location in Boulder, CO, in 1955. WICHE is governed by three gubernatorially appointed commissioners from each member. Under terms of the compact, each member commits to support WICHE's basic operations through annual dues established by the full commission.

WICHE's members include 15 Western states and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (the first of the U.S. Pacific territories and freely associated states to participate).

WICHE's Student Exchange Programs

WICHE's student exchange programs offer a broad range of higher education options for some 36,000 students each year at undergraduate, graduate, and professional levels.

Residents of WICHE states can gain affordable access to programs, states avoid costly and unnecessary duplication of programs and facilities, and colleges and universities can devote their resources to improving the quality of their educational offerings.

Statistical Report

Academic Year 2014-15

This report covers fall 2014 enrollments for WUE, WRGP, and PSEP. It details the funds that flow between students’ home states and the enrolling PSEP institutions that receive them. This newly expanded format gives detailed enrollment for participating WRGP programs and WUE institutions. The “WUE Enrollment Report” will be discontinued as of the 2014-15 academic year and going forward, it will be replaced by the “Statistical Report”.